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Creek grad is making mark in college volleyball

Posted
Monday, August 28, 2017 3:42 pm

Column by Jim Benton

Alison Fowler answered questions four years ago when she was walking out the doors of Cherry Creek High School.

She was often asked about New York Institute of Technology which was her college choice to continue study and volleyball.

"No one really knew where it was," explained Fowler. "I had to tell them where it was and what the region was like for competition."

Fowler, an NYIT senior, is still answering questions, but now mostly about volleyball at the college that has campuses in Manhattan and Old Westbury, New York.

The 21-year-old is the East Coast Conference 2017 preseason Player of the Year. She is a two-time ECC Setter of the Year, the 2016 ECC tournament Most Valuable Player and is the team captain for the third straight season.

Defending league champion NYIT is the ECC preseason title favorite, so expectations are high for Fowler and the Bears.

"I think myself and the team are ready to work as hard as we need to in order to live up to those expectations," said Fowler.

Fowler had 1,110 assists last season, which was eighth all time for a single season in NYIT history. Fowler improved her career total to 142 block assists, which now stands 10th on the school career ladder, and she had 9.82 assists per set in the 2016 season. She is third on the all-time assist list with 3,226.

"After my freshman year when the setter of the year was named, that was my goal," said Fowler. "I worked really, really hard to get that my sophomore year. After I won it, I wanted to do everything I could to win it again.

"I'm always trying to improve my attacking. As a setter you always want to have the element of surprise with a few attacks. One of the main things I worked on last year was to improve my blocking."

Fowler has a 3.2 grade-point average as a mechanical engineering major and she isn't taking 101-level basket-weaving classes. Her class schedule had classes in energy conservation, heat transfer, advanced energy systems and dynamics.

"I've always been math- and science-minded, especially math," she said. "I wanted to focus on that kind of thing. As a setter you are always thinking. It's a very mental position as well as physical. You have to run the plays for the team and set everyone up to score."

Adams 12 lacrosse interest

Lacrosse is a sport with swelling participation, and the Adams 12 school district is trying to decide whether join the crowd.

In Colorado there were 98 boys and girls teams in the 2002-03 season with 3,358 athletes. In the 2016-17 season, Colorado had 187 high school teams with 5,646 participants.

The Adams 12 school district has created an online survey to help determine if there is interest to create lacrosse teams for the 2018-19 season.

Adams 12 didn't field boys or girls lacrosse teams during the 2016-18 cycle. The school district had planned to have a co-op boys team at Mountain Range and a girls team at Horizon, but the decision to not have teams was made because of limited time for planning, preparation and funding.

Planning resumed in late May to offer lacrosse with a single boys and girls team for the 2018-19 season. A survey is available on the district website to help judge interest.

Still, nobody in the Adams 12 athletic office responded to a request seeking to learn the amount of people that have replied to the survey.

Jim Benton is a sports writer for Colorado Community Media. He has been covering sports in the Denver area since 1968. He can be reached at jbenton@coloradocommunitymedia.com or at 303-566-4083.